New days, new ways. Soccer can even be played at night now.
Rules for Games
Do you like to play games?
Some types of games are:
- sports, like football, hockey, baseball
- video games
- board games, like chess, checkers, monopoly, scrabble
What is your favorite game?
The rules of the game tell us how to play. Can the rules be changed?
Rules for the game of life
As in games, there are rules for living. Thousands of years ago, God gave rules for living to Moses. We can read them in Leviticus 19. Some of them are:
- Don’t steal
- Don’t lie
- Don’t harvest all of your garden
- Don’t eat meat with blood in it
- Keep the Sabbath
- Don’t get a tattoo
- Don’t wear clothing made of two different materials
- Don’t breed your livestock with another breed of livestock
- Don’t seed your garden with two kinds of seed
- Don’t trim your beard or sideburns
- Honor your mother and father
There were a lot more rules than that. Nobody could follow ALL the rules.
God changed the rules
When Jesus came, he changed the rules. He cancelled all the old rules. He gave us two simple rules to live by:
- Love God
- Love people
Jesus said Love God and love others…all the Law and the Prophets depend on these two (Matthew 22:37-39).
How can we love God?
- By praying? Yes/No
- By reading the Bible? Yes/No
- By following the rules in Leviticus, that Moses gave? Yes/No
- By living like Jesus? Yes/No
- By accepting God’s grace? Yes/No
How can we love other people?
- By praying for them? Yes/No
- By giving them money? Yes/No/Sometimes
- By welcoming them? Yes/No
- By agreeing with them? Yes/No/Sometimes
- By giving them grace? Yes/No
New days, New ways
Jesus didn’t follow the old rules that God gave Moses. What did he do that was different?
Do you think we should follow strict rules? Why or why not?
Should we expect other people to follow strict rules? Why or why not?
“This is a new day, so let’s see it in a new way. Let’s always try to live under the freedom and grace that Jesus gives, and relate to each other in the Spirit of love and truth.” –quote from Pastor Wayne Snider
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